Healthcare & Life-Saving LogisticsModernizing the National Blood Exchange (NBE) Without Downtime
VLink successfully migrated the NBE—a mission-critical blood supply coordination platform operated by AABB—to Microsoft Azure with zero disruption to ongoing healthcare operations.
About the Client
AABB is a nationally recognized healthcare organization that operates the National Blood Exchange (NBE)—a critical application used to coordinate, track, and distribute blood inventory across medical facilities.
Because NBE supports time-sensitive, life-saving healthcare logistics, the platform must remain:
- Highly secure
- Continuously available
- Extremely reliable
The application was running on aging on-premises infrastructure, making it difficult to scale, maintain, and secure. AABB needed to modernize the platform without modifying the application and without any downtime.
That’s when AABB partnered with VLink for a secure, seamless cloud migration.
Challenges
Upgrading Infrastructure for a Life-Critical System
AABB needed the benefits of the cloud but faced strict operational requirements.
Aging Infrastructure
The system relied on physical servers that were expensive to maintain and difficult to scale during peak demand.
Manual and Slow Updates
Every software update required manual deployment, increasing delays and the risk of human error.
High Security Requirements
Because the platform handles sensitive healthcare logistics data, it required stronger access controls, encrypted communication, and secure credential storage.
Zero Downtime Allowed
Since the system supports life-saving supply coordination, any downtime could disrupt operations. The migration had to be completely seamless.
Our Approach
Lift and Shift — Move Everything, Change Nothing
Instead of rebuilding the application, VLink used a Lift & Shift strategy. This meant moving the entire application to the cloud exactly as it was — no code changes, no redesign — just modern, more reliable infrastructure.
We focused on:
- Hosting the application on secure Microsoft Azure cloud serversaa
- Moving the database to a fully managed cloud database service
- Setting up a secure private network in the cloud
- Automating the software deployment process
- Adding Azure Monitor for automated monitoring, alerts, and performance insights
- Implementing backups and disaster recovery from day one
The Solution
A More Reliable, Secure, and Future-Ready Platform
Here’s what improved after the migration:
Cloud Hosting Instead of Physical Servers
The application now runs on Microsoft Azure, providing higher reliability, improved performance, and the ability to scale as demand increases.
Managed Database Services
Our experts migrated the database to Azure’s managed platform, which automatically handles backups, updates, and high availability.
Stronger Security Controls
We secured passwords, keys, and sensitive credentials in a protected cloud vault. We also enforced strict access permissions and encrypted all communication.
Automated Software Releases
We automated software deployments through a secure pipeline, reducing errors and accelerating release cycles.
Automated Monitoring and Alerts with Azure Monitor
We implemented Azure Monitor to continuously track system performance, resource health, and application behavior. Intelligent alerts notify technical teams instantly, enabling proactive issue resolution before users are affected.
Built-In Backup and Disaster Recovery
We implemented automatic backups and geo-redundant storage to keep the system and its data safe during unexpected failures.
Results
100% zero downtime during migration
60% faster software deployments through automation
70% improvement in security posture with modern cloud controls
Technology Stack
Microsoft Azure
Thinking About Moving Your Legacy System to the Cloud?
VLink helps AABB modernize safely — without downtime, without risky rebuilds, and with clear, measurable business outcomes.
Book a Free Consultation Call with Our Experts Today